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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Blue whales 3 days in a row in São Miguel

Today was another perfect day in São Miguel. As you can see from the above photo taken this morning we had blue skies and the sea was so calm it looked like a lake.

To make things even more perfect we saw another blue whale today, making it the third day in a row that we have seen this species. It's looking to be a great whale watching season for us this year, with so many blue whale sightings already so early in the season. We also tried to watch a fin whale that was in the area but it had a very difficult behaviour for watching, so again it was the blue whale that stole the show.

Our vigia (onshore watchman) reported that there were also beaked whales in the area, but these animals are extremely difficult to watch as they spend very little time at the surface, so we did not get to see them from our boats. But we did get to see our much more friendly resident common dolphins. We came across several different groups during the tour and the water was crystal clear so we got to see them really well. After our sightings we still had a bit of time left, so we put a nice end to the trip by visiting Vila Franca Islet before heading back into our marina in Ponta Delgada.

It's interesting you ask that because scientists still do not know exactly where the winter breeding grounds are for the populations of blue whales that we see in the Azores. You are right that it is in warmer waters, but where exactly is still a mystery. It's amazing that they are the largest animals in the world but we still know very little about the different sub-populations, migratory routes and areas of reproduction. It is thought that they follow the mid-Atlantic ridge and we know that now they are headed to waters beyond and around Iceland to feed during the summer. The University of the Azores is currently undertaking a study in which they are attaching satelite tags to the whales, so maybe some of our questions will be answered in the near future...

as i said, i have read a lot about whales and in particular about blues, but i have never found any information about the areas of reproduction in the north atlantic ocean and this make me so curious!!

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Welcome

Futurismo has 25 years of experience whale watching and swimming with dolphins in the Azores. We operate tours from São Miguel Island on a year-round basis.

The Azores islands are famous for being one of the world's whale watching hotspots. Here we can see at least 27 species of whales and dolphins, the most noteable being the resident sperm whale. Discover the secrets of the Azores with us, both out on the ocean and on land.

This blog is updated on a regular basis so please follow us to see our latest cetacean sightings. If you have any questions please contact us.